On Saturday, September 28th the newly reformed Flying Squirrels team will be hosting a 3 on 3 tournament using the yellow bats at Mercure Park in Rockwood. For more information see the Facebook event: http://on.fb.me/1e51nEu

Oct. 1 - Free Agency Opens

On Tuesday, October 1st rosters will be unlocked and free agents may begin signing with teams. Talks between players and teams can occur beforehand, but no commitments can be made until this date. Commitments/signings made by players prior to October 1st will result in suspensions to start of the season.

Oct. 26 - Hallo-Wiffle

On Saturday, October 26th we will host the second annual Hallo-Wiffle event. The format will be determined by the number of participants, but you can count on the racquets and some bigger bats making an appearance! If you wear a costume you get to play for free. Otherwise, it will cost $10 to join in on the fun.

Jan. 1 - Deadline for Submission of Team Name and Colors

Any team name or color changes for returning teams must be submitted to the league by January 1st, or the change(s) will not be allowed. New franchises must also have their name and colors selected by this point. If a name has not yet been chosen by a new team, the league will assign one to them. All requests for team names and colors are subject to league approval, and may be denied.

Feb. 1 - Deadline for Submission of Team Logos

Any logos to be used during the 2014 season must be submitted to the league by February 1st, or they will not be used. If a new franchise has not submitted logos by the deadline, a set will be assigned to them. All logos used by WSEM teams must be approved by the league. Copies of MLB, MiLB, NFL, NCAA, or other trademarked properties will not be permitted for use.

The Winter Meeting will be held to go over changes to rules, policies and responsibilities for WSEM in 2013. A representative of each team is encouraged to attend to make sure everyone is on the same page when we get on the fields.

Apr. 5 - Deadline for Submission of Initial Roster

All teams must have an initial 6-8 player roster submitted by Tuesday, April 1st. Roster moves may still be made after this point. Teams will not be penalized for being over the cap at this time. There will be sheets provided at the Winter Meetings for this purpose.

Apr. 5~ Scheduling Meeting

Just as we did last year, we will hold a meeting in early April to set the entire 2014 season schedule by week. A representative from each team should attend with knowledge of which weeks look bad for their team (i.e. weddings, vacations, or business trips scheduled that affect multiple players), so that you can assist in making the best schedule possible for the entire league. If a team is unable to send a representative, they may participate online or over the phone. If that is also not possible, they may inform us beforehand of their "bad weeks," and their schedule will be set around that by the rest of the league.

Apr. 5 - Deadline for Submission of Field Information

All Information about home fields must be submitted to the league by Monday, April 14th. This includes the field name, location, direction in which the batters hit (N, W, SE, etc.), and approximate dimensions. There will be sheets provided at the Winter Meetings for this purpose.

Apr. 24 - Talent Cap Goes Into Effect

Teams must have their roster under the 21 star talent cap by 11:59 PM on Thursday, April 24th, or they will be subject to the applicable luxury tax penalty for the 2014 season.

Apr. 25 - Opening Night

As is our tradition, we will open the season on the final Friday in April. This year the Westside Warriors will face the Islanders in the annual spectacle.

El Diablos and the Aces split their series at Pervis Memorial 1-1 during the regular season by a matching score of 2-2. El Diablos took the first game, capitalizing off early control problems in the first inning and a home run later in the game off the bat of Kyle Tomlinson, while Craig Skinner kept the Aces lineup silent: allowing only two runners to reach base. Roles reversed in the second game as Austin Bischoff shut down El Diablos offense, and added a two run home run of his own. Evan Bortmas' bat also came alive with three hits in the second game.

The two championship contenders also split their series at Poolside Park. Two more runs were scored in the southern session as El Diablos took the first game 2-1, and the Aces had the biggest margin of the season series in game two at 3-0. In game one it was the Aces who capitalized off of walks early. However, Chandler Phillips again won the first volley for El Diablos with a two-run opposite field home run in the late innings. Also mirroring the first meeting, Evan Bortmas once again saw his bat perk up; this time with a two-run home run behind Evan Bischoff who held El Diablos to just three baserunners.

Coming home from the national tournament to one last week of our regular season could be depressing, except we have Westside and the Ducks going heads up to determine the final wild card spot on Sunday! The teams met for the first time in 2013 just two weeks ago: the Ducks won game one, then - in typical fashion - rolled over after falling behind early in the second game. They would say they would have swept if they had Phillip Morris. However, Westside was also without their second star pitcher, Thomas DeMaria. Both of those pitchers are slated to be there this time around as Westside comes into this final sprint with a two-game lead.

The paths taken by these two teams to get to this point of heading toward a photo finish could not be any different. Westside jumped out to a 9-1 start and has slid back toward .500 since. Alex Shore jokingly commented during their week 12 victory over the Ducks that it was the most offense the team has had all season. He was not far off. It was the first time they had scored nine since June 2nd, and tied for the second most runs in a game all season. 14 runs at home against Belgian, again on June 2nd, are the most scored by the Warriors on

From week 12: Warriors and Ducks second game of the season

the season. On the season Westside ranks seventh in offensive production at 3.29 RpG, while a .262 team batting average finds them at sixth.

The Warriors have made their strides on the mound. Their 1.80 team WHIP is good enough for third in WSEM. As mentioned above, DeMaria is expected to return this week after a two month absence; he leads the team with a 1.00 WHIP and 1.94 ERA. Sam Hatt and Keifer Haffey are right behind "Bones" with a 1.58 and 1.39 WHIP, respectively. All three find themselves in the top ten in that category. As hinted with the term "absence," many of Westside's stumbles this season are attributed to having spot starters filling in for their big arms. With the playoffs on the horizon, hopefully, that no longer seems to be a problem for the black and orange.

On the other hand, the Ducks were in shambles after ten games at 2-8; they have since turned things around and stormed their way back into the race. What turned them around was also, in part, pitching help. Specifically, finding Morris to round out their rotation. His statistics are inflated, 3.56 WHIP and 5.62 ERA, but so are his strike out numbers at 2.88 KpI. He keeps batters off balance, and with the potent offense provided by Dennis Pearson and Dylan Braden there is a fighting chance to get five-to-six runs of support. Case in point: he is 3-1 on the season.

So, what exactly has to happen for either team to secure the wild card? Well, I hope you like if/then statements and third party candidates!

In addition to the head-to-head meeting, both the Ducks and Warriors also have King Friday on the schedule. Rebecca Black's favorite team can play as big of a role in this outcome as any. Let us start off with the simplest possibility to work with: both Westside and Ducks sweep Friday. If that happens, then the Ducks must sweep Westside to finish tied at 15-13 and send the decision to tiebreakers. In this case the Ducks would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, and advance to the playoffs. If Westside can take even one game here, then we will see the Ducks August 10th at Pervis for the Thrill. If both the Ducks and Warriors split with Friday, the situation in their series remains the same: just with one less win in the column.

If the Ducks manage to do one game better than Westside at Friday (DU sweep/WW split or DU split/WW swept), then they are still in a dangerous place. A split with Westside would still see them finish game behind. A sweep would have the Ducks take fourth place outright, but since they would have the tiebreaker anyway, it is just a formality. The real advantage for the Ducks comes if Westside slips up badly at Make-Believe and loses two while the Ducks sweep. In this case, both teams come in on even footing. A split in this situation would even seem to favor the Ducks, who have a lead in the run differential tiebreaker.

Now the other way, if Westside can get even one more win than the Ducks against Friday, then the Ducks run is over and Westside can sip champagne on elementary school grounds. The police will look the other way.

The most intriguing possibility, not to mention the darkest of horses in this race, is what happens if Friday manages to sweep both the Warriors and Ducks. In this circumstance, a Westside sweep or split between the Ducks and them puts Westside in the playoffs. However, a Ducks sweep of Westside would bring all teams to a 13-15 tie! Meaning it is time for a tiebreaker dance-off! Head-to-head would not gain a result: Westside holds it over Friday, but are even with the Ducks; Ducks are even with both; Friday is even with Ducks, but loses it to Westside. So, it would come down to run differential, which is currently held by Friday - and with four wins coming they would only gain more of a lead. In order for the King's men not to make the playoffs here, the Ducks would need to beat Westside by a significant margin in both games to edge out Friday for the wild card.

Get all that? Well, just think of it this way: the three series Westside and the Ducks play in this weekend will all play a big role in determining who gets that final playoff spot. Every game is huge! What more could you want from down-the-stretch Wiffleball?

Over to the right is a rundown of all the week thirteen picks. David had the roughest week going 4-9; he did hit the only lock made, though, with Phillips getting a W on the mound for Big Wood. Rich and Mike-as-Alex both split the difference and posted 6-6 records. Chris did one better at 7-5, giving him a little more cushion to play with going into the final week. Still, the crown is anyone's to take, since we decided to go with a "Final Jeopardy" style of loading up on the lock this week: each Picker can take any amount of the correct picks they have made and wager them on their lock. Get it right, and jump up the ranks; get it wrong, and have your own numbers turn against you.

No easy picks to close things out, either. A couple over over/unders with big numbers, a couple point spreads with tiny numbers, and a few prop bets sailing on the wind to take us home.

David(27 - 42, .391)

Richard(40 - 28, .588)

Alex / Mayor(25 - 33, .431)

Chris(43 - 27, .614)

@HB hits:Over/Under 29.5

Over

OverI look for the Wiffles to show some heart in the season finale but come up short with pitching

UnderWager: 25 points

OverWager: 5 pointsBalls bat around (3) times in the first inning.

@How will the first run(s) be scored?(BB, 1B, HR, etc.)

BB

1B

BB

HRShore hits a lead off bomb to start the game.

@Series Point Spread:WW -1.5

Warriors-1.5

Warriors-1.5

Warriors-1.5

Ducks+1.5

@Closest to # w/ogoing over:Outs recorded before a run is scored

1

2I think the number will be higher 5 or 6 even but 2 is good enough for the point

6

1Dennis hits a dinger in the first to score the first run of the game.

@Total Ks:Over/Under 39.5

OverWager: 27 points

OverWager: 13 pointsAce's put an inflatable pirate ship in the pool and then sink it.

Islanders will also serve the team in a behind the scenes capacity. London-side, the SeMIs team is headed up by Nick Coffee from King Friday, with Evan Bortmas of the Wicked Aces, Braden and Chris Paquin of Holy Balls, and Nagorski and Dennis Pearson of the Ducks. Belgian Wiffles will be the only team from WSEM that goes unrepresented this weekend in Ohio.

There is a lot more to the trip than the games, and the dynamic between the returning leagues seems to be a fantastic balance of comradery, competition, and party. It will also be great to meet the new blood, and see first-hand what they add to the proceedings. Still, on the field both of our teams have some goals in mind. Obviously, Big Wood wants to win the NWLAT, and looks to have a chance. Short of that, though, they want another crack at the TBW Lightning. TBW is the team that single handedly knocked us out of the tournament last year, defeating us on three separate occasions. They also want a shot at reigning champions Freaky Franchise from the OCWA.

The SeMIs are looking to make a deep run in the playoffs. After a great showing in 2009 as the Jammers, finishing in the top ten of 60+ teams, our bids in London every year have ended within the first two rounds. Winning London is never really on the table for outsiders: it is more an exercise in shenanigans, neck craning, and "did that just happen?" This SeMIs team has enough firepower to make some noise, though.

We leave corralling the rest of the weekend's events in the Pickers hands! After gaining his first lead of the season, Chris cannot be thrilled about this list of twelve picks heavily saturated with over/unders and prop bets, but that is the way the cookie crumbles. These final two weeks will give everyone a shot at reengaging for the crown. One change-up, fellow booty hunter Michael Sessions is filling in for Alex this week, and boy is he salty!

David(23 - 33)

Richard(34 - 22)

Alex / Mike(19 - 27)

Chris(36 - 20)

Big Wood winning %:Over/Under .625

Over

Under

Over

Over

SeMIs wins in London:Over/Under 2.5

Over

Over

OverBortmas will lead the team

Over

HR hit by Alex Shore in the HR Derby:Over/Under 6.5

Over

Over

Under(sorry, Alex)

Under

Pick the winner of the NWLA Tournament

Big WoodJust because I got love for our league and know nothing about the other teams.

CWBC Clubbers

OCWA Freaky Franchise

TBW Lightning

Pick the winner of the Thurs. night Mario Kart tournament

Nick Coffee

Paquin

SkinnerThen he will beat everyone in a tournament for UFC Undisputed

Corbett

Austin Bischoff Ks in his ASG start (1 inn.):Over/Under 2.5

UnderThis may be foolish, but I'm going with under - I say he gets 2.

Over

Over

Under

Craig Skinner ERA in the NWLA Tournament:Over/Under 1.50

Under

Over

Under

Over

Dakota LaDouceur HR in the NWLA Tournament:Over/Under 3.5

Over

Under

Under

Under

Joel Crozier AVG in the NWLA Tournament:Over/Under .275

UnderBats closer to .260

Over

Under

Under

Yes/No:Does Chandler Phillips get a W on the mound for Big Wood?

Yes

Yes

No

No

What will be the first pitch of Big Wood's tournament:ball, strike, foul, or put in play?

Strike

Ball

Ball

Ball

Which team (Big Wood or SeMIs) will be first to score a run on Saturday?